Unification of Enemies
by Chair in the Stairway
Summary: Mixed feelings buried deep within are brought to the surface when Star Wolf requests to become stowaways on the Great Fox after the Aparoid Queen ordeal, just in time for a new mission to be assigned shortly thereafter.
1. Chapter One: Morning of Alteration

**NOTE and SLIGHT SUMMARY: **This fan fiction takes place almost directly after the ending of Star Fox: Assault, but does not act as an explanation for the events of Star Fox: Command. **_Unification of Enemies _**is an alternate storyline, exploring the possibility of Star Wolf joining Star Fox on the terms of the partnership recently experienced twice in SF: Assault. Please read with an open mind and don't condemn me for following my own storyline instead of one from the series. _THANK YOU._

(Oh, I guess I should mention that this chapter contains mild language. If anyone is offended by this, it probably wouldn't be a good idea for you to continue. As for the rest of you, please enjoy the fan made fiction.)

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** Chapter One: Morning of Alteration**

A barrage of flames filled the empty space, growing in size as the cool metal combusted oh so suddenly. Streams of laser fire whistled as it was forced out the loaded cannons, echoing its fatal trail in the headsets of those who were destined for impact. One, two, _boom._ Another pilot was taken by the fiery death that was assigned to him the day he jumped into a cockpit. Though, no tears were shed; this was a battlefield.

The rush that was truly fitting for those who were still two seconds from death, those who stood on the ever-so fragile line that their lives had drawn, was provided generously, especially to one certain pilot. A falcon who was covered by beautiful, and rarely seen, blue feathers, with patches of red feathers erupting spontaneously all over his body. He was truly a sight; a force to be reckoned with, for to him, this was just another day in the park. His name is Falco Lombardi, and his piloting skills could be compared to a work of art; swift turns, beat-skipping rotations, and smooth descends and ascends formed the outline of his flight cycles, while the streaks of blinding light cascading across the empty pockets of space made the withheld stars glisten brightly.

Falco's face curled into a crude grin, one typical of his character. He was toying with these pilots, these rookies; they acted as if they had never been trained to use their wings! In fact, the gifted blue falcon was quite disappointed with this; there was no fun to be had when your enemy is the equivalent of a burning ant under the intensified ray cast down upon it by a magnifying glass that was held by the hand of a cruel, yet innocent, minor. Despite this, though, Falco was rather thankful. At _least _he didn't have to bust his butt for today's paycheck. Nope, this mission was easy sail-_CHIRP CHIRP!_

Falco looked around with a dumbfounded look invading his face. _'What the hell was that?'_

_WAKE UP! _The sound came again, just as unexpectedly and swiftly as the last. _CHIRP CHIRP!_ It rung inside Falco's head, distracting him from his mission. _WAKE UP! _A scowl grew across the annoyed falcon's face. _CHIRP CHIRP!_ He banged his cockpit's control panel just in time to-

"-WAKE UP!"

Falco sat straight up in his bed; his wonderful battle in the skies had been a dream. The scowl from his dream still inhabited his face, with his current attitude being further illustrated by his half-drawn eyes, which were filled to the brim with crust, and a hanging mouth, obviously too stiff to shut properly. With one smooth rotation of his arm, Falco wiped his sweaty forehead, forced his alarm clock to quite its persistent chirping, and fixed his jaw. After realizing that this chirping was not his usual alarm, Falco inspected the alarm clock, concluding that someone had snuck into his room last night and sabotaged the damn thing, setting it to an even more spectacularly annoying wake-up call than usual and set it to an earlier time. The non-stop pools of sweat that dripped down his feathers was a clue that the culprit had also turned the air conditioning off.

Falco wiped his eyes bitterly and peered across the room, seeing a poster of Fox that read, "Glad you decided to wake up, slacker! I need you to come down to the briefing room, pronto! (Bring your confidence with you.)" A small signature followed, saying, "With love, Fox."

"That jerk," Falco murmured. "He ruined my internal monologue..."

The covers of the bed were cast into the air, slowly floating down to the floor. The exhausted falcon took a deep breath and puffed up his feathers, sending a quick chill down his spine. His body took over this action immediately, tucking the feathers into a more comfortable pattern, making the muscles, curves, and odd little features of Falco's body become more noticeable.

Falco swung his legs over the side of the bed and scooted himself to the edge. While continuing to mutter to himself, he opened a drawer on his nightstand recklessly, causing a loud bang to echo through his room, and collected his clothing for today; a pair of boxers, loose, leather jeans, and a belt. There was no shirt to be found in the drawer, but the avian just shrugged and slammed the drawer shut, quietly promising that he'd do his laundry later with a two half-hearted fingers crossed behind his back.

The first thing, upon entering the bathroom, that Falco took part in was the organized, and highly respected, sport of "looking at yourself in the mirror". He searched his body, looking for any possible defects in his feather lining, then followed the outline of his figure, making sure he hadn't gained any unwanted slab around the waist. After slapping his hips with satisfaction, Falco proceeded to the shower, turning on the water so that it could warm up while he placed his cloths over the side of the counter of the sink. Though, after feeling a sweat drop slide down between his eyes, the avian decided it would be in his best interest to take a cold shower today. The knobs were adjusted accordingly as he jumped within the confines of the shower stall, leaving his cloths lying unattended and unorganized.

It took about two seconds for foolish avian to jump hysterically out of the shower, desperately grabbing for a towel to cover himself with while hollering, cursing, and what not. His feathers recoiled in every which way while the glands housed below them screamed in protest of the frigid hell that they had just been put through. A few breaths became physically visible within the bathroom as the commotion slowed to a halt, with Falco standing there, half-naked, fully shocked, and more fluffed up than a cat that had been touched from behind by a ghost.

Once his heartbeat and feathers were, once again, under his control, the valiant falcon decided to try his hand at a cold shower once again, this time approaching it with caution and at a slower pace. First his left foot, then his whole leg, followed by the right foot, right leg, and so on. Once fully submerged into the water, Falco felt as if the messengers themselves in heaven were casting ice from the deepest oceans surrounding the polar ice caps on Corneria. It was truly a test of the body, though, once his skin started warming up, as they usually did when he was tired, the freezing water became much more bearable. In fact, it was actually quite enjoyable. While the water was not arousing in the least, it was certainly more comfortable once he was used to it, as it was absent of the stinging trait hot water could be associated with.

Twenty minutes later, Falco was already out of the shower, completely dried off, and finished with his daily grooming. The only thing left to do was to get dressed, but the avian decided to take a bit of time to embrace the freedom his body enjoyed when not constrained by clothes. Upon locking the door, and setting the lock with a timer, Falco began stretching, relieving the stress in his muscles and ridding these very muscles of the knots that were embedded into them the night before. Focus was first applied to his legs, which were almost always were restless when he woke up, though, would you expect any less of the legs attached to the bird who always sought an adventure?

After Falco's legs had received their bit of time, Falco moved onto his mid drift, loosening his belly (abs) with a series of exercises, the most commonly known one being crutches, which were performed on top of a new towel that was laid across the bathroom floor. The avian got up after finishing with his belly and moved onto his arms, pulling them across his chest, reaching toward the ceiling, and twirling them in little circles as he held them horizontally in the air, quickening his heart beat as he forced himself to keep them levitating in the air.

Falco released a relieved breath after putting his arms back down to his sides, then continued onto his neck, the last target for these stretching exercises. Thirty seconds of rotating his head in a circular motion both clock-wise and counter clock-wise passed, just in time for the little _click_, which sounded off when the door was unlocked, was recognized by Falco's ears. With a disappointed sigh, he began pulling on his cloths.

Now fully dressed, or as close to being fully dressed as he could be without a shirt, Falco viewed himself in the mirror once more, making sure nothing was out of place. Satisfied with the results of his grooming, the avian left his bathroom and quickly made his way out of the stuffy room, slowing his steps down gradually as he continued down the hall. The thought of grabbing a quick cup of coffee crossed Falco's mind, but he figured he should just hurry to the briefing room instead. Fox was, most likely, already PMSing-to-the-max as it was.

As if flying through the air, Falco weaved down the hallways, passing through rooms quickly as his steps quickened in pace, eventually growing from the degree of power-walking to sprinting. The patterns engraved into the walls passed by seemingly at the speed of light, as did any objects lying around. However, no one that inhabited the Great Fox was present. This was a good thing, as it signaled that Fox wasn't calling Falco into the briefing room to complain about something, such as missing items that_ happened _to wander into Falco's room, the over-consumption of food, or whatever else usually set off the overly strict vulpine.

The briefing room came into view, which was obviously to be expected, though, Fox did as well. He stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall with a smug look on his face. Falco automatically assumed this was because his rigged room, which cheesed him off. With his finger jabbed accusingly at Fox and feet skidding to a stop, Falco yelled, "Where do you get off sneaking into my room and messing with my stuff, Fox?"

Fox's smug look failed to deteriorate upon hearing this. He only snickered and looked into Falco's eyes sternly, explaining the motives behind his actions, "If I hadn't messed with your stuff, you would've never woken up in time for the meeting, though, I see you had to cut corners with your uniform to make it here on time." Fox removed himself from the wall and walked over to Falco, standing directly in front of him. "You're a genuine sleeping beauty."

"Wait..." Falco's facial expression quickly shifted from anger to confusion as he ignored Fox's comment. "What meeting?" His expression then changed back to anger as quick as it had changed from it. "Why wasn't I told about this meeting!?"

"Well," Fox played with the hairs on his chin. "It actually came about at the last minute. Really, it was a surprise for all of us."

Falco glared over at the wall, wanting to clear his mind of Fox's face so that he could think straight for a second. '_A surprise meeting, eh?'_ If the surprise part was actually truthful, this meeting could actually be a briefing of a new mission, hence the fact that is was taking place in the briefing room. Though, this thought was soon discarded by the avian. Despite how much it excited him to get a new mission, he doubted it'd be something very big. After all, it was only mere days ago that the Aparoid Queen had been taken down.

_'Hm...maybe our paycheck finally got here.' _This had a better possibility of happening, but it was unlikely that Fox would call a meeting just to announce that their paycheck arrived. Usually, meetings revolving around money were about Star Fox's bank balance and where the current money was going; these meetings were planned and announced, at least, a few days in advance.

_'Maybe we're obtaining a new member...' _Once again, Falco shot his idea down. Obtaining a new member would not only bring in a whole bunch of paper work, as well as the purchase of a new arwing, more groceries to feed all the crew members, and a week's worth of uniforms. The blue falcon couldn't see anyone on the team wanting to go through that mess, especially since the team would end up having to cough up the money for the aforementioned expenses.

Rubbing the back of his head in frustration, Falco sighed, "Care to give me an idea of what I'll be dealing with when I walk through those doors?"

Fox grinned, "Let's just say it's one heck of a surprise."

Falco shot him a half-skeptical, half-freaked out glance, then proceeded through the doors. Nothing too out-of-the-ordinary; Krystal, Slippy, and Peppy were there, but there were a few more seats taken up. '_Wolf and Panther? They're here? Then that must mean...'_

The truth hit Falco like a two-ton truck; his jaw practically made a hole in the floor with how hard, fast, and low it dropped. Falco nearly fainted, but got himself together before dropping lifelessly to the floor. He recovered quickly, going from the appearance of a shocked drunk who had been kicked out of his favorite bar to that of a seriously pissed-off house wife that just found her husband cheating on her in their own bed. Falco jabbed his finger through the air again, tripping over his words as he tried to spit them out. After roughly thirty seconds of stuttering and sucking-in badly needed breaths, he managed to say, "What the _hell_is he doing here!?" Emphasis on the word "hell".

The being he was pointing at, and having a melt-down over, was none other than Leon Powalski, his arch nemesis. Leon calmly blinked at Falco with a crooked smile stretched across his face. His curled up tail twitched with excitement, he had obviously been waiting for the moment for "that glorious falcon to barge through those doors and just fall apart". This sight amused him greatly. "Now, now," Leon placed his arms up on the table in a tepee-like fashion, gripping both hands with each other so that he may make a suitable resting spot for his chin. "Is that anyway to treat a guest?"

Falco got his act almost completely together, but couldn't find the will to lose his timeless expression. It was clear that seeing his nemesis sitting across the room in his domain had a rather strong affect. "Guest?" Falco's beak clicked in anger and surprise. "What's he talking about?"

Krystal scooted her chair over a few inches, due to Panther sitting next to her and meowing persistently, then she responded to Falco's question, saying, "Star Wolf came to us, requesting to come aboard and talk."

Fox came up from behind Falco and grabbed his shoulders, pretending to massage them. "They then requested to hide out with us for awhile," Fox continued Krystal's explanation. "Seeing that they helped us in a bind just recently, and that their ships were complete trash when they came to us, we had no choice but to allow them to stay."

"Hide out?" Falco asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, hide out," Wolf interjected suddenly. "While we were away helping you clowns, the men I hired to look after our hideout decided to take over the place and, to add insult to injury, they came hunting us down for the rewards placed on our heads." Wolf slammed his fist on the table. "They were waiting for an opportunity like this for God knows how long."

Falco brushed Fox's hands away, obviously not in the mood for any joking around. His mind was digested the situation, obviously having a hard time believing such a decision was made without his consent. A new question was then flagged in his mind, "Why didn't you wait until I got up up to decide?"

"Cause we decided to vote on the matter, and the vote came out 3:1, with Slippy being the one who opposed," Fox broke off just as Slippy nervously laughed and sunk into his chair.

"In other words," Leon continued the sentence with a cackle. "It wouldn't have mattered if you voted or not. The verdict would've been the same."

"Hey, shut your mouth, lizard boy!" Falco felt his body heat rise dramatically.

"Yes sir," Leon gave Falco a left-handed salute, catching a cold stare from the avian.

"You two, knock it off," Panther said with a slight growl in his voice. "Your bickering is, no doubt, upsetting Krystal."

Krystal peered at Fox with a look that screamed, _'Can you believe this guy?' _A question which had an obvious answer. Falco started pacing around in circles, blissfully blocking out Panther's further comments, which questioned Slippy's gender, and the ensuing conflict. His mind racked itself for possible explanations of why his fellow pilots allowed this to happen. The obvious possibilities, drunkenness, loneliness, and insanity, crossed his mind, but were not accepted as an answer. Though, the more that Falco thought about it, the more it seemed reasonable. Star Wolf _ had _saved their asses a few times on the previous mission and their ships were definitely going to end up completely totaled after the explosion that occurred. Truly, Fox was too kind-hearted to turn other people away, even enemies, when he receives a chance to help them out of a tight situation. It was naive and stupid, but it was the right thing to do, which made Falco hate himself for disagreeing with his commander.

After clearing up his thoughts and forcing himself to accept Star Wolf's stay on the ship, Falco stood straight up, and, for the first time in ages, made himself look professional. Everyone noticed this, and turned their attention to him as he spoke, "While I know I will completely miserable with Star Wolf aboard," Wolf's eyebrows lowered as a frown crossed his face. "Especially Leon." Leon smirked as he cracked his knuckles. "I'm willing to accept the fact that they're gonna have to stay with us, possibly for a long time."

The shock, which had been held by Falco when he entered the room, now was transferred over to the warring members of each team. Leon, however, just continued smirking. Fox, the first to recover, confronted Falco, saying, "Well, I hope you'll hold this attitude, cause we've already decided on the sleeping arrangements." Fox scratched his noggin, then lifted a finger up, obviously remembering the agreement. "Krystal will move out of her room and move into my room with me, allowing Wolf and Panther to stay in her room, leaving you with Leon."

Falco nearly lost it right then and there, but the overly satisfied look from his adversary that sat only twenty feet away forced him to coupe with this new found problem. Though, the avian found it hard to control his mouth, which abruptly blurted out, "_Why me?"_

Fox caught Falco's drift, taking it seriously, "Well, I honestly couldn't imagine Leon staying with Peppy or Slippy. No doubt, they'd cramp his style."

"Naturally," Leon chimed in as he waved his hand in circles as he left his seat and moved across the room, toward Fox and Falco.

"But," Falco looked over the guests. "Why can't Wolf stay with me?"

"Apparently," Fox answered. "He likes to be in control of things, even if it is a small room. So I figured I might as well just give him a room with one of his cronies. So, that leaves you with either Leon or Panther."

As a last stitch effort to see if God would be good to him, Falco peered over to the table, glaring at Panther. The feline had placed a rose in his mouth and was flexing his muscles proudly, obviously intending to get Krystal's attention. "I guess I'll stick with Leon, then," Falco admitted with a sigh.

"Oh, come now," Leon said, now standing next to Falco. "You make me sound like a burden."

"Give yourself some credit, lizard boy," Falco looked into Leon's eyes. "You're much more than a burden."

Leon cackled, "Well, whatever I am, I'm yours now!"

Falco winced at this exclamation, resenting it despite how true it was.


	2. Chapter Two: Sharing Territory

**WARNING: **While this chapter is usually good-mannered and such, it has a tendency to _go crazy _and_ start cursing, _among other things. If you are easily offended by works of literature that use naughty words, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to continue. However, if you find stuff like this funny, you might enjoy yourself. Maybe.

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**Chapter Two: Sharing Territory**

"That was quite a show you put on in there," Leon abruptly ended the silence that filled the air trapped within the room. He wrapped his fingers around the edges of a box, intending to lift it up. "_The mature Lombardi; _who would've guessed?"

_THUD! The sound of two boxes smashing against each other overlapped Leon's voice, creating a sudden feeling of tension. Falco stared coldly at Leon as he rested his elbow on the boxes, applying his weight to them, "Drop it, _lizard boy."

Leon blinked as an intentionally dim-witted grin grew across his face, "Do you mean the box or you're valiant behavior?"

"That latter of the two," Falco grabbed a strap of tape that held the flaps of the box closed. He lowered his face to the tape and snapped it in two with the end his beak, bursting with satisfaction once he saw that his idea had worked.

"Very well," Leon said while hoisting his box into the air as well. "If my nemesis is acting mature, I guess I should, _at least_,do the same in return."

"Whatever," Falco looked at Leon with a less-than-amused expression. "Just shut your trap and help me find the pieces for your bed."

Leon complied without speaking a word. He grabbed a box that was lying off to the side labeled _'In Case of Guests' _and smirked upon opening it. The chameleon picked up a book from atop the stack of various parts and held it in the air, _'How to Get Rid of Your Guests.'_ Leon threw the book over into Falco's lap, "I can only assume that that belongs to you."

Upon reading the title, Falco confirmed Leon's assumption with thumbs up and threw the book aside. The avian went about his work again, sorting through the bed parts to find ones that they needed. Since doing this wasn't exactly thrilling, Falco's mind began to wander, reflecting upon the meeting that ended just under an hour ago. Fueled conflicts that erupted between the two halves of his divided brain amused the avian as his body was left to do the grunt work, complaining by expelling sweat from his glands. This body of Falco's knew that it didn't matter whether the avian stopped his vigorous work or not, it could surely get him back by making every muscle and joint used today stiff and sore by tomorrow.

A slight pain in Falco's shoulder made him consider halting his search for the final few pieces of Leon's bed and just give up, giving the chameleon a hammock or something to sleep on tonight, but his thoughts, once again, gripped his interest, distracting him. The meeting, after his acceptance of Star Wolf's stay, went rather smoothly, except for one little bump in the road; the announcement of a tight budget. Everyone was obviously disappointed with this news; Wolf picked up on this, stepping up and promising that his team would pay back the Star Fox team, in full, for their stay to ease the worries of the opposing team. With a large scowl invading his face, Wolf sat back down, feeling less than valiant about his little speech.

The remainder of the meeting covered usual junk that was discussed between the Star Fox crew members; lost items, petty disputes, and what not, were resolved. Though, instead of lending his voice to the conversation, like he usually had, Falco just stood by and listened with the ends of his fingers tapping together and his eyes staring subtly over at Leon, veering away when the chameleon seemed to shift his eyesight. While the news of Leon staying with him had already done its worse, Falco was still pedaling it through his head while questioning Fox's sanity and cursing bitterly with words he did not know even existed. Though, once Falco had reached the storage room and began working, he gradually released his stress with every flex of his muscles, turning himself into a more level-headed and calm individual.

Falco liked this new side of himself. It not only helped him to appear more professional, but it freaked out his team members. The avian found it easy to forgive Fox for the things he had done to get him out of bed due to the fact that the vulpine's expression, when hearing and seeing Falco's new side, was absolutely priceless. That moment brought new meaning to the phrase, _'Fight fire with fire.'_

"Amen," Falco thought aloud, attracting a confused look from Leon.

Though, there was one major flaw that came with this new self; it tended to disappear whenever Leon spoke a line of sarcasm or insult. In turn, Falco reverted back to his old self in a fraction of a second. While this hasn't happened to an extreme degree (yet), Falco decided it'd probably be best to try and master the art of being tolerant so that he and Leon could coexist semi-peacefully during Star Wolf's stay. Falco, of course, made this decision when thinking in a calm, organized manner; a manner brought about by his new self.

After a few moments later, Falco awoke from his mid-day slumber, finding all the missing pieces from before at his feet. A soft chuckle escaped his beak as he gathered them in his arms and stood up, eying his pile of parts to make sure none had wandered off. Frames, support bars, wheels, bed posts; everything was there. With a smile, Falco ran his head against his shoulder, smearing sweat across his feathers, then let it hang back as he opened his mouth to take in a fresh breath. Much like Falco's room had been earlier this morning, the storage room was about as cool as the inside of a volcano. This made the avian glad that he was just seconds away from strolling out of the hellish room.

The only thing left to do was to gather the parts and drag them to his room so that he could start setting everything up. Leon already caught the gist of this and pulled out two empty boxes and set them in front of Falco. The two spent the next few minutes loading the boxes up whilst throwing insults back and forth, the only suitably mentionable one of which being "wussy". Once the boxes were packed to the brim with the parts that would make up Leon's bed, the two hot-headed room mates started down the hall, carrying on their war of insults all the way through the decorated corridor.

- - - - -

Wolf hurled the wrench he was holding across the room, nearly embedding the tool into the wall permanently with how much force he unintentionally placed into the throw. Panther, who dodged the raging tool at the last moment, was laid out on the bed, trying to keep his heart from jumping out of his throat. The frightened feline slowly inched off the bed until he fell off, landing on the floor. Panther's fur stuck up about an inch from his skin, illustrating just how panic inducing Wolf's action had been. The large canine didn't realize this though, as he was stretching with a happy tune being played by the growls he released through his teeth.

Panther crawled across the floor over to Wolf, using every ounce of energy to spare in his arms. The feline usually would've gotten up to confront the canine about something inconsiderate he had done, but this incident had taken Panther's ability to walk, or use his legs in any form altogether. This was, of course, temporary. Panther, upon trying to talk, also found that his voice had been temporarily stolen by the event as well. After a few failed attempts to scream his head off, Panther just sunk to the floor, resting his head on his arm.

Wolf continued to celebrate his triumph over the dreaded bed and its instruction manual, which was published in a foreign language, by jumping up and punching the air while spitting insults out of his furry muzzle. Panther watched as his team's captain jumped about in a small, predetermined circle radius with fists swinging wildly, only to hit air, ironically hurting the very thing that gave him life. After a few one-sided rounds with the surrounding air, Wolf calmed down and acknowledged Panther's existence. With a confused, and slightly amused, look dominating his face, Wolf asked, "What're you doing on the floor?"

"Recovering," Panther answered with a huff.

"From what?"

Panther pointed to the wrench that had been hurled at the wall, clamping onto the metal barrier as if to perform some sort of magic trick. At first, Wolf bought into this phony floating trick, but quickly came to his senses and removed the wrench from the wall, scratching the back of his neck with it. "Sorry about that."

Panther nodded his head in a way that screamed, _'Sure you are.'_

"Well," Wolf seemed to catch the meaning of Panther's motion. "You wanted me to set up the bed for you. Maybe that was my subconscious getting back at your lazy bum."

"If that's the case," Panther finally removed himself from the floor. "Remind me to stay on your subconscious's good side."

"Say, speaking of beds," Wolf waved the wrench at Panther, unintentionally causing the feline to coil back in fear. "Did you see Fox or Krystal go to the storage room to pick up bed parts?"

Panther directed his eyes toward something across the room as he summoned his thoughts, searching them for an answer. "No," The feline answered, turning his attention back to Wolf. "Why do you ask?"

The canine launched himself into the air, jumping toward his bed. Upon landing, Wolf embraced the comfort of the sheets, much like a frat boy who had been out partying all night would. Wolf had a pretty good idea of what Fox might have been intending to do in not getting bed parts for Krystal, but soon discarded his thoughts, concluding that the cub was far too proud, shy, and smart to attempt anything sexual, though, this didn't mean that the canine couldn't have a little fun. Aspiring to mess with Panther's head, Wolf answered the feline's question with an illusive, _"Nothing!", _and threw the wrench, which was secured in his hand only seconds before, into a toolbox that sat at the base of his bed. Wolf pulled the covers over his body. A dissatisfied grunt followed as his chest piece and boots followed the wrench down the side of his bed, both making a series of loud, disruptive noises as they collided with the toolbox.

Panther raised an eyebrow as he reflected on the little tune that Wolf had carried throughout his answer, but the clueless feline ultimately decided to leave the matter alone. Panther curled up in his bed and drifted off as Wolf's voice echoed in his head. The trip to catch up with the Great Fox was grueling, so the feline was grateful to get a little such eye, despite being on top of a "build-it-yourself" bed constructed by none other than his untrustworthy captain, who couldn't make a paper-airplane without it coming apart. Luckily, Wolf's reputation was easily ignorable due to exhaustion.

- - - - -

Fox exhaled deeply as he dropped down on his bed, bum first. Surely, he thought his crew members would pitch a fit about him even _considering _allowing Star Wolf to stay on the Great Fox, but the support given by all members, excluding Slippy (who was, no doubt, in hiding by now), was a great surprise. Though, the vulpine still wasn't sure how this all would work out. Wolf and Fox basically still saw each other as enemies under a temporary truce, Panther still cast romantic jesters in Krystal's direction in the most egotistical of ways, and Leon was staying with Falco.

Granted, the last problem was actually Fox's fault, but, at the time, it was just a way of getting under Falco's skin; Fox hadn't actually thought the consequences or the very unlikely, and possibly creepy, benefits of the two sworn enemies living under the same roof, in the same room. The other two problems just got under Fox's skin, ironically. While Fox had often hoped Wolf would become an ally, it didn't seem as if the canine was willing to participate; at least, not yet. This obviously was an awkward issue to tackle, as the two warring males were now aboard the same ship. Though, Fox's real enemy, at the moment, was Panther. The feline surely wouldn't give up trying to steal Krystal's attention, even if rejected by her a million times, and while Fox knew Krystal has yet to be impressed by Panther's advances, he was still bothered by them. Of course, this feeling of uneasiness was natural.

Another breath was exhaled by the vulpine, this one seemingly being strong enough to knock him over onto his back. _'I could spend all day holding my breath about these things or just get on with my life,' _Fox told himself, eventually coming to a conclusion. _'I choose life.' _

And with that, Fox leaped up from the bed. In theory, this should have invigorated him, possibly clearing him of all his thoughts, but this possibility was shattered as an unexpected collision with Krystal sent the vulpine spiraling back toward the bed, much like an Arwing spiraling toward a building, a canyon wall, or an asteroid after loosing control. A shriek was released from Krystal's throat, making Fox's eventual crash into his bed, and the wall that it sat next to, that much more wonderful.

_BAAM!_

Fox pulled his face off the wall and rubbed his now bruised and deeply red cheek with his hand. Krystal ran over to the bed, half-surprised and half-amused, making sure Fox wasn't too hurt before bursting out laughing. While, at first, Fox didn't appreciate this, he couldn't help but join in. Sure, his face hurt and Krystal scared the crap out of him, but it was moments like this where he couldn't help but start laughing, despite being in pain.

After a few minutes of hysterical laughter, Fox and Krystal's two sets of eyes met, seemingly carrying on a conversation of their own before Krystal interrupted this, asking, "How did that feel, Fox?"

"Truthfully," Fox leaned back, placing most of his weight on his arms. "It felt great. There's nothing quite like having your face jammed into the wall to relieve stress."

"I'm glad to see my method of getting your mind off things worked," Krystal smiled sincerely.

In truth, it didn't. As a matter of fact, Fox believed that this was some kind of divine punishment in which his lover would accidentally hurt him until his wrongs were corrected. This was only a temporary thought, and a silly one at that, only provoked through the suddenness of the event. Though, as soon as this thought passed, Fox's previous thoughts returned, haunting him like a ghost haunted a house. The vulpine-in-distress turned back to Krystal, intending to use her as a quick way of eliminating the thoughts, equipped with the perfect topic to get her talking, possibly to the point where she'd never stop. "Um," Fox's voice carried an uncomfortable tone. "I've been meaning to talk with you about something, Krystal."

Krystal cocked her head to the side, fixing her eyes on Fox, "Oh? What is it that you want to talk about?"

Fox took a minute to get his thoughts straight, for the upcoming subject was a very dangerous step into uncharted territory; one that could, quite possibly, get his head bitten off, if not, worse. The topic was about having Krystal living with him, sharing a bathroom and bedroom, basically the shower and bed, with him. Beforehand, it seemed inappropriate to bring up, but now that the two were together in the same room due to Wolf and Panther staying in Krystal's room, Fox deemed it suitable to talk about. However, the vulpine didn't really feel ready to talk about this, not knowing which words he could use to talk about this particular topic without offending, pissing off, or totally disgusting Krystal. Despite this, Fox replied, saying, "I wanted to talk about us living together."

"Okay," Krystal rubbed her chin. "Could this possibly be about our sleeping arrangements?"

Fox nodded his head, "Yeah. I was going to ask you if you wanted to-"

Krystal jumped in immediately, finishing the sentence for Fox, "Share a bed."

For the second time today, Krystal completely surprised Fox. Before, she sent him flying across the bed and into the wall by just standing still and, now, she was _reading his mind. _Quite frankly, Fox was glad that Krystal knew what he was going to say even before he said it, but that still didn't dispel the fact that what Krystal did was freaky on a major level, and so, Fox just sat there, muzzle agate and eyes fixed squarely on Krystal. The blue vulpine giggled in response to Fox's look, "What? You think you're the only one thinking about that kind of stuff?"

Fox snapped out of his shock, "Possibly..."

"Well," Krystal shifted her weight back and forth on the bed. "I'm comfortable with it if you are."

"That's certainly a good thing to know," Fox jumped to his feet, wearing a rather large grin. "Now I don't have to put a bed together."

Krystal parted her lips and lowered her eyebrows, "I hope you didn't try to bring this up for that reason alone."

Fox stuck out his tongue, "Come on, Krystal, you know me better than that."

A humorous atmosphere was finally established in the place of the uncomfortable one that inhabited the room beforehand, but, like many other good things, this eventually had to come to an end. Though, neither Fox nor Krystal expected a series of knocks to fill their ears. Fox peered at Krystal, then walked over to the door and pressed a button on the control panel located on the left side of the door, allowing the door to begin sliding open. As it did so, the door seemingly began moaning in agony; obviously, the large plate of metal and the gears that moved it needed to be oiled, but this was a matter to attend to later. The current matter to attend to was the person knocking on the door, which was none other than Slippy.

The toad, still frightened by Star Wolf's presence, looked about as calm as a teenage girl in a slasher-flick. As a matter of fact, Slippy nearly passed out when Fox looked at him with an expression that was often worn by Wolf. "Slippy," Fox said after a few minutes of silence, snapping the toad out of his terror attack. "What's up?"

"It's Peppy," Slippy answered while looking around to make sure none of the Star Wolf members were present. "He wants to see you."

Fox, was once again surprised. Peppy wanted to see him? Why? The old hare had been recovering from the recent mission, but apparently insisted on keeping in touch with the younger members of the Star Fox crew as he did so. This was illustrated by the fact that Peppy had been at the meeting earlier today. Though, being there seemed to be enough for him at the time, seeing as he only spoke once, and that was to cast his vote on whether or not Star Wolf stayed. Fox scratched the back of his neck, then asked, "Did he specify what he wanted to see me for?"

"No," Slippy peered down the hall once again. "He just said it was very important."

"In other words, you just wanted to hurry and get me so you could go back into hiding."

"Pretty much," Slippy laughed nervously.

"Fine," Fox turned to Krystal. "I have to go talk with Peppy for awhile. I'll be back shortly."

"Alright," Krystal dismissed Fox with a wave. "I'll be messing with your stuff while you're gone."

Fox rolled his eyes, "Whatever, just don't break anything."

Fox exited his room, leaving his new room mate behind and joining Slippy in the hall. After calming the freaked out toad, the two started down the hall, making their way toward the Great Fox's mini-hospital.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **If anyone should spot a mistake I've made, whether it be grammar-related, spelling-related, or story-related (this would most likely be concerning the narrative and how consistent it is), please tell me (preferably though a PM) and I will fix it accordingly. Please don't make a big deal out of it, either, I'm only human. --- The part of the story in which Fox and Krystal discuss sharing a bed is not hinting anything sexual; they are simply covering a major part of living closely with each other during the consideration of a long term relationship (marriage, dummies), as many couples do. 


	3. Chapter Three: Commemoration

**Chapter Three: Commemoration of the Great Fox  
**

_Click, click. Clank. Click, click. Clank._

Fox and Slippy walked in professional way that was instilled in their mind, somewhat like a practiced march performed by troops stomping into battle or the clunky formations often taken up by school bands. Once one of their feet had stricken the ground, it was rotated upward so that the corresponding foot of the other being could strike the ground, maintaining an unintentional beat. Had the two been dressed up in an appropriate matter, they could be the section leaders of the Star Fox Orchestra! This idea, however, would most likely end up bringing the two ridicule and torment from the other members of both the Star Fox and Star Wolf teams, and thus, the idea was promptly shot down.

The hallway's walls proved to be an equally effective method of grabbing Fox and Slippy's attention as they both made their way through the hallway as the idea of a Star Fox Orchestra. The sleek, silver and blue stripe design weaved in, out, and around various shapes as the hallway progressed, practically straining the beings' eyes to keep up with the complicated movements at the speed of which they traveled. Fox's eyes spun quickly over his muzzle, carefully following each blue path as they weaved in and out of each other, sharing the seriousness of the look worn by generals as they watch the paths of their troops. Slippy, however, wore a look completely opposite of Fox's; the look of a man who had just been scared witless.

Despite their differing expressions, the two continued to march down the hallway, withholding the beat established within the first few steps of their venture. Slippy, convinced that all Star Wolf members were either asleep or preoccupied, finally opened his mouth to speak, breaking the silence with a simple breath and expulsion of sounds. "Fox," Slippy addressed his captain timidly. "Why did you allow Wolf and his team to stay with us?"

While Fox's legs kept moving in their preset pattern, the vulpine's concentration suddenly came to a halt as the wave of thoughts summoned by Slippy's question came flooding into his head. Fox knew, or thought he knew, why he had let Wolf stay, but he couldn't exactly bring himself to express his motives to his fellow Arwing Pilots, despite being able to clearly spell them out in his head._'They helped us out of a few tight pinches, guys. I trust them'_._'I know Star Wolf hasn't exactly been on the best terms with us in the past, but this is the present. People change.' 'How could I leave them out there? They came to us in their time of need; I couldn't turn them away.' _None of these answers seemed to be good enough when Fox borrowed his wing mates' eyes. Falco's unwillingness to look away from the past, Slippy's forever nicked trust, Peppy's superior outlook upon everything, and Krystal's ever changing view of right and wrong made it tough to guess their reactions.

Under normal circumstances, there was no doubt that everyone would query Fox's leadership capabilities, with Falco being the strongest of the rebels. However, today had been anything but normal, what with Falco acting mature, Star Wolf aboard the Great Fox, Peppy barely involved in the ship's happenings, and Fox and Krystal's personal relationship becoming more intimate quicker than previously expected. Why, the only thing remotely sticking to tradition was Slippy, who displayed his great uneasiness towards guests (which, in this case, was called for). So, the best thing Fox could do was to take in these immediate changes, adapt to the changes, form a new hypothesis, and hope he hit the bull's-eye, despite being in the dark.

Fox gathered his wits and came up with what he saw as the best answer, "I trust them, Slippy. It may seem like a foolish thing to say, but based on Star Wolf's recent actions, and how far they are from their previous ones, I can honestly say I think they're changing. For the better, too."

Slippy's beady eyes studied Fox's face carefully, finding him to be completely confident in his answer. The toad let out a troubled sigh, and then let out his usual, nervous laugh, "Just like Peppy said."

The vulpine stopped in his tracks, reflecting upon the statement. '_Just like Peppy said?'_

"Peppy told me you would say something like that," Slippy continued without giving Fox a chance to ask. "_'Fox will make a mature decision based on the greater picture, just like his Dad.' _I thought it was just the wounds speaking, but I guess Peppy really believes in your decisions," Slippy smiled, but immediately stopped as he realized how his statement reflected negatively on his actions. "Not that I ever didn't! I was just being skeptical. You know, ol' skeptical me! Heh..."

'_Just like my father,' _A smirk grew across Fox's face. _'I guess it's true; I'm becoming more like my father each day.'_

Slippy, whom continued to try and convince Fox that he hadn't ever doubted his leadership, halted abruptly upon seeing that the vulpine was not paying attention. Naturally, Slippy placed his hands upon his hips and tightened his eye lids around his beady pupils, all whilst maintaining a masculine posture instead of converting to a feminine one. Fox quickly noticed Slippy's annoyed stance and drew back, somewhat. The vulpine figured that he had already caused enough trouble for the day, so he didn't desire to step on anyone's toes, "Sorry, Slippy."

Slippy released a breath and loosened his structure up a bit as he swayed from side to side, swinging his arms in a ditzy way, "It was the thing about your dad, right?"

"Yeah," Fox confirmed Slippy's thoughts.

"I don't think Peppy means anything by it."

"He doesn't," Fox started moving forward again, getting Slippy back into the walking mood once he reached him. "I know Peppy's just trying to cheer me up. Besides, I could never be as great as my father once was."

"Well, you know Peppy," Slippy carefully reviewed his words in his head before continuing, making sure that he wouldn't offend or sadden Fox with his words in any way. "He's like a father figure to us; absolutely fatherly in every way," After hearing a slight chuckle from Fox, Slippy added, "He just wants to keep us all to remain happy so that we can make it off the Great Fox alive."

"I suppose so," Fox's ears perked up as he saw the hospital draw near. "Ah, we've finally navigated all the way down this hallway. I feel as if I've walked down the spine of the Great Fox, this hallway's so long."

Fox immediately disappeared into the room, not waiting for Slippy to either acknowledge what he had said or reply to it. Slippy was left in the hallway with his hands jammed in his pockets as he continued his swaying motion, _'The Great Fox, I get it now.'_

At first, Slippy had assumed that Fox named the Great Fox based solely on the fact that the ship was quite colossal and to emphasize the greatness of the Star Fox team, but the toad just now realized how wrong the assumption had been. Fox, out of pure love, had named the Great Fox after the individual whom he considered to be the true great fox; his father. Slippy almost slapped himself across the face right then and there for not coming to this conclusion before Fox had mentioned that he would "never be as great as his father", but held back any and all desire to, partially thanks to his new found admiration for Fox's dedication to commemorate a lost loved one. As a matter of fact, the overly melodramatic toad damn near brought himself to tears just running this through his head, bashing himself for even doubting Fox before, but Slippy managed to fight them off.

Slippy slowly made his way to the door once sure he was able to hold in the waterworks, pressed the button on the side panel, silently commanding the door to open. He then walked in, catching the gazes of both Fox and Peppy, whom had obviously been conversing up 'til Slippy intrusion. Slippy gulped slightly, then asked, "What did I miss?"

* * *

**_Author's Note:_** Sorry for taking so long to update guys, but I was fairly busy with school junk. Also, I'm sorry for cranking out such a short chapter, but I figured that I should put something out for you guys whom have read my story thus far. --- I thank the very readers whom have shown their interest in this story! It has kept me going forward. --- I wasn't able to fit the whole chapter title in the drop down menu thingy, hence why the title is significantly different when you actually are reading the chapter. 


	4. Chapter Four: A Change of Pace

**Chapter Four: A Welcome Change of Pace  
**

"Nothing really, Slippy," Fox answered, his lips collapsing against each other as his eyes shifted towards the ceiling, giving the impression that he was thinking of a suitable way to elaborate on his answer. "I was just asking Peppy how he was doing," Fox's eyes then narrowed a bit, giving his face a suspicious tone. "What took you so long in the hallway, anyway?"

Slippy blinked, feeling a wide, nervous frown form in his lips and take refugee across his features, almost reaching all the way around his head, "Nothing, just thinking."

"Oh, okay," Fox dropped the conversation, shattering Slippy's current fears within a matter of seconds, and then turned to Peppy, confronting the old hare once again. "Anyway, how're you Peppy?"

From this question, Slippy deduced that his intrusion into the mini hospital had kept Peppy from answering Fox's question, giving the toad a newfound sense of guilt, causing him to silently criticize himself within the confinements of his mind. Oddly enough, this made Slippy feel better due to the fact that his mind's rambling and bitching allowed the toad to occupy himself, giving Fox the floor that he had previously swiped from under him. Also, it gave Slippy a sense of accomplishment, since he was able to accurately point out his mistakes and seek out ways to improve himself in the future; the toad figured he should start on his timing first, as that seemed to be his least redeeming his quality. After all, no one really liked someone who walked in on them in the middle of an important conversation, in the middle of a task requiring the utmost attention of the individual whom is taking part in it, and in the middle of one's alone time in which they shed off all clothes and freshened up after a long day's work.

Fox shot Slippy a questionable look, with one eyebrow certainly raised much higher than the other, wondering why the toad such a dazed look on his face, but the vulpine ultimately dismissed his curiosity in the matter, reinforcing his attention back to Peppy as the old hare spoke. His voice seemed to be a bit broken up from the injuries he endured ever since the end of the last endeavor his team had set out upon, but his words stilled flowed well enough to be made clear to any listener's ears. The hare's posture was something to be conceived as interesting, as Peppy shifted himself in his bed many times during the conversation that was already had and the one that was yet to be had, perhaps silently portraying, subconsciously or not, his unwillingness to remain still, even when "down for the count". Fox took his motions into consideration and developed a stronger admiration for his old leader.

"I'm fine," Peppy finally answered, after rummaging around in his hospital bed for a few seconds, which seemed to take on the role of minutes and, possibly, hours for those who were forced to bear their presence. "I may be in this bed here, but I feel as good as ever."

The hare slumped back into the sheets that he previously threw off, attracting a snicker from Fox, "Okay, but try and take it easy, Peppy. We don't want your restlessness to cause you more pain."

"Restlessness," The old hare repeated the word uttered by Fox in a fashion that expressed his disgust for it. "Don't mistake my ambitions for a trait that overcomes children when they sit down for too long!"

"Fine, fine," Fox held his hands up in a defensive matter, showing both that he didn't mean any offense by what he said and fully understood why Peppy made such an outburst, but this further convinced the vulpine that Peppy was, indeed, restless. "We don't want your ambitions to harm you any further. That better?"

"Slightly, yes, but that's beside the point," Peppy folded his arms across his chest, suggesting that he was now ready for some serious conversing. "I'm guessing you had a reason for coming to see me other than saying hi, am I right?"

"Yes, you're correct," Fox assured the old hare, answering and nodding simultaneously. "I came to you to discuss the direction of the team and any possible mission we might accept in the near future."

"You certainly know how to talk business, Fox," Peppy looked down at his legs as he reached into his pocket, digging his hand into it, obviously looking for something. "I received a message from General Pepper's replacement a few hours ago," The old hare succeeded in finding what he was looking for, pulling a small device out of his pocket that contained a wave of buttons on its bottom half and a screen on the top half. "Something to do with a new mission, one to be held in secrecy," Peppy waved Fox over. "I've yet to read the specific details, so we can look over it together."

Fox complied, making his way over to Peppy's side and setting his eyes on the little device's screen, reading the details of the upcoming mission as they were pulled up by Peppy.

-----

Falco stood up with a proud tone basically radiating from his feathers. The avian cast aside his previous position of being slouched over and on the floor, working on Leon's bed, or any recognition that he had even set his behind upon it and wore a huge grin, looking down upon his work with a large spark of satisfaction making itself known in his eyes. Leon, of course, found this to be very amusing, keeping his eyes on Falco just so that he had no chance of missing any more "foolish" actions in the near future. Though, the chameleon proved to grow rather bored very quickly, seeing as Falco seemingly refused to do another motion for his amusement, or even move, for that matter. Leon rolled his eyes as an obvious question escaped his lips, "Are you quite done?"

"No," Falco answered in a harsh tone, making it clear that he didn't appreciate Leon's voice interrupting what his mind labeled as a glorious triumph.

"Well," Leon butted in again, wearing what could be described as a cocky smile. "When you're done worshipping this bed, tell me. I'll help you move it."

"Duly noted," The avian acknowledged Leon's words once again, expressing discontent with the tone that he previously used whilst shooing the chameleon away in a restless fashion, attracting a look of skepticism from Leon as he left the room.

"Imbecile," The chameleon muttered as he started down the hallway with no clear destination in mind.

While Leon was clearly put off by the sudden push he just received, the chameleon looked at this as an opportunity to get to known the Great Fox a little more. Leon wandered around quite a bit, constantly looking around to take in the industrial scenery that the ship provided his eyes with. Thirty minute's time allowed Leon to draw a mental map of the entire ship, which, of course, pleased the chameleon to the point where he silently congratulated himself with a sly smile. Though, this moment of rejoice was cut short by a loud beep, which signaled that someone was about to speak over the intercom. This attracted a less-than-pleased look from Leon, but the chameleon earnestly listened to the intercom, knowing that any announcement over it was meant to be important.

"_Everyone, please pardon this interruption," _It was evident that this voice belonged to Fox, not so much through the sound of it but through the opening apology. _"I need everyone to report to the meeting room immediately. I have a briefing on our next mission."_

"A briefing of our next mission, you say?" Leon asked the intercom, obviously not expecting an answer. "I commemorate you, Fox! You sure know how to provide us all with a bit of excitement! I was just wondering when everything would get exciting!"

Leon started down the hallway, repeating the last two lines, changing them slightly every time he recited them.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Once again, I'm sorry for the short chapter guys. I'm been trying to write stuff up so I can submit it, but the combined forces of both Winter Break and Winter Break assignments has proved itself to be great. --- Also, this was a little rushed, so please notify me if you find any mistakes. It would be greatly appreciated. --- The title of the chapter, once again, had to be shortened for the drop down menu, hence why the title in the actual document is longer. 


End file.
